Rosa Winters

Rosa Winters

University of Southern California

Quick Facts

Significance:

Discovered borax in DEVA with her husband

Place of Birth:

California

Date of Birth:

1847-1850

Date of Death:

1884-1887

Rosa Gillett was born sometime between 1847 and 1850 in the region we now call California. We do not have much by way of records about Rosa, but we do know she married a relatively wealthy man in San Bernardino early in her life. After he passed away, Rosa inherited her husband’s entire estate, including livestock; she was rich long before discovering borax.
 
In 1880, Rosa was married to Aaron Winters, but it is unclear what happened to her wealth by this time. There is some mention of Rosa having lived in a city such as Los Angeles or San Francisco prior to marrying Winters, but it is secondhand. In 1880, the two were living in an isolated region of Ash Meadows, California, where the nearest neighbor was a minimum of 60 miles away. Aaron had to live away from society to hunt animals, and it was not very lucrative; the Winters maintained a diet of lizards and beans. It is not until a man with news of this “cotton ball mineral” borax that the Winters’ prospects began to look up. Aaron and Rosie (as Aaron called her) remembered seeing a mineral that looked like cotton balls in Death Valley.  

In order to test if the mineral deposits were truly borax, the couple needed some chemicals commonly used in women’s beauty products. Rosie set off on a 10-day round trip to the nearest town to purchase the necessary chemicals. Upon her arrival, the couple raced to Death Valley to burn the chemicals— if the flame turned green, it was borax. They had to wait until sunset to accurately determine the color of the flame. Aaron Winters was known to recount his reaction for many years after, saying “It burns green, Rosie! We’re rich!” 

Rich, they were. The Winters sold their information on the new borax deposit to William T. Coleman for $20,000. Aaron took Rosie to San Francisco to buy a new dress and to enjoy a little luxury before settling into the Bennett Ranch that they purchased for $15,000. While the ranch was relatively successful as a ranch and general store, Rosie passed away and the business declined until 1887, when Aaron lost the ranch for failure to pay taxes. Aaron was no longer invested in the ranch without his wife, and he supposedly became a hermit after losing the ranch.